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Lieutenant Quinlan (Jack Ging) gleefully stops by pier 56 to pay a call to the Riptide Detective Agency. He reconnects with Los Angeles private investigators Cody Allen (Perry King), Murray Bozinsky (Thom Bray), and Nick Ryder (Joe Penny) partners in the agency and, after showing his customary disdain for them, announces they are his prime suspects in a string of burglaries of luxury homes.

The evidence is a impulse relay device which Murray designed, and its manual, are found at the scene of the most recent burglary. It was used to breach security systems in other houses. Murray points out that it could hardly be considered evidence of a crime by he and his friends. His product is in general use. The relay is also something which can be programmed to do many things by anyone who buys it in any electronics store where it is sold. He could have also pointed out that he would hardly need a manual to use a device he invented.

Quinlan is dissatisfied with their claims of innocence but not yet ready to proceed further. Those that watched the show remember well that the character liked having something to hold over Cody, Murray and Nick and would resort to great lengths to prolong any difficulty he could put them in. His antagonism in this episode was enough to manipulate them into apprehending the burglars themselves in yet another case without a client and thus yet another case without payment or even recovery of costs incurred.

Quinlan, as usual, has it wrong. The burglaries are the product of a criminal conspiracy a child or even a really dumb cop could solve via the common link. Sisters Lainey (Belinda Montgomery) and Annie (Lenore Kasdorf) - thoroughly likeable and lovably quirky wives and mothers got in over their heads with Joey Dietz (James Cromwell) a particularly sleazy loan shark/fence, after an accounting mistake. Dietz, to whom they owe $20,000 says straight out that he will collect from each of them in a coercive sexual way if they do not deliver. He taught them how to do break-ins using the impulse relay device.

Cody, Murray and Nick find out very easily how Annie and Lainey scout out their victims. Annie is office manager for Camp Wellington - a pet daycare service where affluent customers drop off their beloved animal friends for boarding before going on vacation. Annie can discern easily how long a potential mark will be gone by the arrangements they make. Every burglary of the ones committed was formulated from that and the guys clue in almost immediately as any real cops would.

Murray, borrowing Bucky - an insane mutt belonging to Cody's crazy girlfriend Francine (very gifted actress Jeanetta Arnett who was often utilized in comedic roles) pretends to be a wealthy dog owner set to leave town. The night he has entrusted Bucky to Annie's business is the same night Annie and Lainey bust in to the boat. The Riptide boys figure out pretty quickly after capturing them that Annie and Lainey are victims that have been put up to it and try to concoct a way to set it right.

Gorgeous Belinda Montgomery and equally attractive Lenore Kasdorf appeared on some of the most popular detective shows of the 1970s and 1980s. Paired together they had a kind of chemistry that would have made for an interesting TV show of their own had the network opted to create one for them. That chemistry is by far the strongest element of this episode. Seeing them try to make a go of high-end burglary - a side-hustle it is very evident they would never resort to by choice, made for fun comedy.

What did not make for fun comedy was seeing a convergence in the character arc of Dietz - a particularly sadistic bully who employs terrifying, and lascivious tactics to manipulate people, with the character arc of Lieutenant Quinlan - a more caricatured version of a bully who employs irritating and cheap tactics to manipulate people. Each appears to perversely enjoy imposing their will on people they have put in desperate situations.

Having a parallel like that with the baddie illustrated how rough of an edge Jack Ging crafted his portrayal with. How far would Quinlan go? How far would the writers? We get a sense of it when we see Dietz threaten the rape of both Annie and her sister. He is a monster. By comparison, Quinlan is just an insult comedian with a badge who sometimes cuts corners doing his job. Though unsettling it helps the audience better understand Quinlan.

One pattern, or stereotype of the show was continual inclusion in Riptide episodes of burglars or assailants dressed all in black, wearing black ski masks breaking in to the Riptide. Even Annie and Lainey - their least dangerous intruders are seen dressed that way when they break in to the yacht the guys live on. Ninja fetish?

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